The flag of Chimbote is yellow with the arms
in the middle; it has been used since 1981. (Source:
PressPeru)Ivan Sache, 07 Jan 2007

According to the Spanish
Wikipedia, the city flag of Chimbote is ~2:3 golden yellow with an emblem
on its center. The emblem is a brown equilateral triangle pointing up, with
sides bulging outwards, picturing two stylized golden yellow fish with dark
blue wavy line ornaments, posed as heraldic supporters holding a small black
crescent pointing upwards on three verical wavy stripes, the middle one being
blue and slightly larger and the other two being green and made of two close
lines; below all this the word "Chimbote" in sans-serif golden yellow
capitals.António Martins, 28 Oct 2007

On 5 December 2006, the Peruvian Press Agency Pressperu reported that
for the first time in the history of the National Parliament the flag
of Chimbote was hoisted on Plaza del Libertador Simón Bolívar in Lima.
The hoisting, supported by the Representative from Chimbote María
Helvezia Balta Salazar, celebrated the 100th anniversary of the foundation
of the town. The Peruvian national flag was first
hoisted,as done every Monday in the traditional patriotic ceremony, and then
the flag of Chimbote was hoisted.

(There is no picture of the flag but a description of the flag, which
is, word by word, taken from the municipal website, therefore
describing the elements of the shield in full colours.)

The coat of arms was designed by Carmela Flores G., winner of a contest
set up by Mayor Guillermo Balcázar Rioja. The adoption date is 7
October 1966. The symbol is made of two stylized fishes gold and blue,
after an old Mochica representation, which symbolize the wealth of the
city due to fishery. The Mochica culture flourished in northern Peru
from 100 to 700 AD.

The two fishes support a black half-moon, representing by its shape the
greatest Mochica deity and by its colour the mineral resources that
allowed industrialization of Chimbote. The moon is placed on a vertical
wavy blue stripe representing river Santa, flanked on each side by two
totora stems, the whole representing the valley fertilized by the
river. Totora (from Quechua, "tutura") is the sedge Schoenoplectus
californicus (C. A. Mey.) Soják, whose stems are used to make the
caballitos de tortora, the traditional boats used by fishers on the
northern Peruvian coast and on Lake Titicaca.

The town of Chimbote (c. 500,000 inhabitants) is a port town located in
northern Perou and capital of the Province of Santa, Department of
Ancash, 412 km north of Lima.

In his article "La Provincia del Santa en la Historia" (The Province
of Santa in history), Augusto Alba claims that "the industrial port of
Chimbote was named in the past Ferrol", as shown on the "América
Delineata" map, published in 1636. Chimbote was mentioned for the first
time in 1774 by Cosme Bueno in his "Introducción y Descripción de
las Provincias pertenecientes al Arzobispado de Lima" (Introduction and
Description of the Provinces depending of the Archbishopric of Lima).
Bueno wrote: "la antigua Villa de Santa María de la Parrilla (Santa),
tiene anexo un pueblecito de pescadores nombrado Chimbote" (the ancient
town of Santa Maria de la Parrilla has for dependency a small fishers’
village named Chimbote). In his famous "Diccionario Geográfico de
Indios" (Geographic Dictionary of the Indies), published in 1786,
Antonio de Alcedao described Chimbote as a rock or islet of the
Southern sea on the coat of Peru, in the Province and Corregidorate of
Santa, close to another rock named Corcovada.

The historian Antonio del Busto believes that the name of Chimbote
appeared in the beginning of the XVIIth century and is of Japanese
origin. Several fanciful etymologies have been proposed for Chimbote,
for instance "pueblo sin bote" (village without boats), referring to
the difficulty of disembarking in the port. The word Chimbote most
probably comes from "chimba" and "bote".
According to Gonzales Holguin’s Quechua lexicon, published in 1608,
"chimbo" means "the other part of the river";
"bote" is a small boat with rows. A similar explanation given in
the book Chimbote a través de la Historia (Chimbote in history)
relates "chimba" to the Quechua word "chimpay",
"to go to the other bank".

On 12 August 1813, the priest Manuel Castellanos released the Padrón
de Vecinos de Villa de Santa y Ranchería de Chimbote (Census of the
inhabitants of the town of Santa and the Camp of Chimbote), where the
first known 25 inhabitants of Chimbote are listed.

On 1 January 1872, Chimbote was granted the title of Main Port (Puerto
Mayor), following a Supreme Decree signed by President José Balta on 9
December 1871. On 23 January 1872, another Supreme Decree confirmed the
proposal of building of a village on the domain owned by Juan Gilberto
Meiggs. The village later increased and formed the today’s town of
Chimbote. The railway was inaugurated in Chimbote on 12 February 1872.
On 27 November 1895, the Congress of the Republic passed a Law changing
the name of "pueblo de Chimbote" (village) to "Villa de Chimbote"
(town); the Law was signed by President Nicolás de Piérola on 4
December 1895. Accordingly, the seat of the capital of the District of
Santa was transferred to Chimbote. On 5 December 1906, Law No 417
separated the District of Chimbote from the District of Santa; the law
was signed by President José Pardo on 6 December 1906. The new district
was made of he port of Chimbote and the surrounding pampas
On 14 April 1950, following the increase of Chimbote, the Province of
Santa was divided into two new provinces, the Province of Santa, with
Chimbote as its capital, and the Province of Huarmey, with Casma as its
capital. The new Province of Santa included the Districts of Cáceres
del Perú (capital, Jimbe), Chimbote (capital, Chimbote), Moro (capital,
Moro), Nepeña (capital, Nepeña), Macate (capital, Macate) and Santa
(capital, Santa). The District of Chimbote has 249,347 inhabitants and
an area of 1,461 sq. km.

Chimbote was partially destroyed in 1970 by a huge earthquake. In the
same time, a big bloc of ice fell down from the Huascarán volcano into
the Llanganuco laguna, causing a flood by water containing stones and
earth, nearly destroying the town of Yungay and killing most of its
30,000 inhabitants. Some 3,000 of them could escape to higher lands
before the flood. The official toll was 30,000 in Yungay, Caraz and
Ranrahirca, 10,000 in Huaraz, 2,700 in Chimbote, 2,000 in the province
of Bolognesi, 1,000 in Huarmey and 70-150 in other, unspecified
villages.

In the 1970s Chimbote was one of the biggest fishing ports in the
world, with more than 30 factories. The earthquake, as well as
overfishing and the El Niño climatic events drastically affected the
fishing industry.